I recently went to a restaurant in the South End of Boston called Coppa, which is one of Ken Oringer’s growing group of top notch restaurants within Boston’s city limits.  I dined on numerous dishes that most patrons would shy away from, like calves brain ravioli, braised pig tail, and charred octopus salad.  However, the dish that really got me excited was duck prosciutto, one of the many items available on the charcuterie menu.  It was fatty, gamy, nutty, tender, and pleasantly salty.  Most importantly, it was something that I knew I could make with just a little guidance from a charcuterie master.  Two days later, I began the prosciutto-ization of some prime duck breasts.

Spending just a few minutes online landed me on Michael Ruhlman’s blog.  Michael Ruhlman is an acclaimed charcuterie artisan, and his blog is full of exciting recipes and cooking techniques.  He posted an entry about how to make duck prosciutto, and it turns out that the process is even easier than getting bored playing Monopoly, which is extremely easy when not cheating.  It’s as easy as covering a duck breast in salt, letting it cure for 24 hours, rinsing it off, drying it well, wrapping in cheesecloth, securing cheesecloth with string, and hanging in the fridge for 7 days. 

I wanted to add some spices and herbs to my salt, so I threw in some thyme, freshly ground black pepper, and crushed juniper berries.  I then followed his directions exactly, and tasted the final product last night.  The anticipation of sampling my own cured concoction was almost too much to bear.  Few things excite me more in the culinary world than cured meats.  The chemistry of the curing process is just fascinating, and the thought of eating meats that have never touched a flame and are weeks/months/years old should probably signal some sort of warning alarm in our brains.  However, raw meat is transformed into something other-worldly in the process, and the end result seems to truly magnify the very best characteristics of the meat being cured.  If you were to eat a porkchop from one of the Spanish black-footed pigs used to make jamon iberico, I’m sure it would be delicious, but not all that different from other high quality porkchops out there.  However, once you cure the meat and let it age for years, all of the sudden you can pick up on the flavors of the foods consumed by the pig, like acorns and hazelnuts.

While this sight may make you cry for a young priest and an old priest, just wait until you see the glory of the sliced product

While my duck did not taste like jamon iberico, it was certainly other-worldly in its own right.  It was very much like the duck prosciutto that I had tried at Coppa, only slightly better, if I may say so.  The fat began to warm and melt immediately after being sliced, which produced a wonderful richness on the palate.  The breast meat was tender, ruby colored, appropriately gamy, and tasted faintly of thyme and pepper.  The most surprising aspect of the duck was that it was not salty at all.  The salt effectively cured the duck without impregnating it with too much salt.  It was just a real treat through-and-through.  Given the ease of producing this delight, coupled with the wow-factor of the end product means that I will be making duck prosciutto as often as I can.  I plan on implementing this process with other cuts of meat and using alternate curing mixtures, so I will report on these experiments as I complete them.   However, if my experiments do not end well, then please go ahead and start reading my posts on www.botulism-attack.com.